Booking a flight may seem simple from a passenger’s perspective, but behind the scenes, it involves a carefully coordinated process that ensures seat availability, secure payment, ticketing, and financial reconciliation. This system balances the airline’s need to protect inventory with the customer’s expectation of a smooth and reliable booking experience.
In short: a successful reservation is the result of a series of automated steps all designed to make flying reliable and stress-free
A system-level view of how airline reservations progress from inventory hold to financial reconciliation after a customer clicks purchase
A temporary reservation is created to hold inventory while the customer commits to purchase.
System state: Inventory held, not sold
Customer view: “Seats reserved”
Funds are collected or guaranteed before any ticket can be issued.
System state: Payment successful or guaranteed
Customer view: “Payment received / pending”
The airline issues the e-ticket, creating the legal right to travel.
System state: Booking confirmed
Customer view: “Booking confirmed”
Post-ticket financial validation and reconciliation.
System state: Financially finalised
Customer view: No visible change
A booking is only confirmed when the ticket is issued.
Stamping is a post-ticket financial process and does not affect the passenger’s right to fly.
How long it typically takes for a booking to move from payment success to ticket issuance.
Payments processed in real-time (credit/debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay).
Notes: Automatic ticketing enabled → minimal delay; GDS latency can add a few seconds.
Payments via bank transfer, pay-by-link, or fast BNPL providers.
Notes: TTL for PNR must account for potential delays; customer sees “Seats reserved while payment is processed.”
Bank transfers with delays, or certain BNPL schemes with manual approvals.
Notes: Manual intervention or retries may be required; customer is informed that booking is pending.
Key Points:
- Faster payment methods = near-instant ticketing
- Asynchronous payments introduce delays and require TTL management
- Display provisional references to reduce customer abandonment
How Pay-first (authorization-only) integrates with Book → Ticket → Capture → Stamp
Customer authorizes payment without immediate capture.
State: AUTHORIZED
Customer view: “Payment authorized, will be captured after ticketing”
Attempt to create PNR and hold seats in PSS/GDS.
Failure: Book fails → PNR not created
Action: Release authorization, notify customer
Issue e-ticket after successful booking.
State: TICKETED
Customer view: “Booking confirmed”
After ticketing succeeds, authorized payment is captured.
State: CAPTURED
Customer view: “Payment successful”
Post-ticketing financial reconciliation.
State: STAMPED
Customer view: No visible change
Failure Handling:
- Book fails → release authorization, notify customer, allow retry
- Payment authorization expires → prompt customer to re-authorize
- Ticketing fails → do not capture, retry or escalate
- Stamp is independent, performed after capture
Key Points:
- Pre-authorization protects the airline from inventory risk
- Authorizations are cancelled if booking or ticketing fails
- Funds are only captured after ticket issuance
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